Target finalizing lease for downtown Portland store

The Historic Landmarks Commission unanimously approved alterations to the Galleria Building – the 101-year-old building that occupies the entire city block bounded by Southwest Morrison and Alder streets and Ninth and 10th Avenues. Target, the popular Minneapolis-based retailer, is finalizing a lease agreement for a new retail location on the second and third floors. (Rendering by Fletcher Farr Ayotte)

Target is finalizing its lease agreement to open a store in downtown Portland, according to sources close to the deal.

The Historic Landmarks Commission on Oct. 10 unanimously approved alterations to the Galleria Building, which occupies the entire city block bounded by Southwest Morrison and Alder streets and Southwest Ninth and 10th avenues. Because the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, approval for the exterior alterations was the last major hurdle related to city requirements.

The 101-year-old building, initially home to the Olds, Wortman & King department store, needs several significant modifications in order to accommodate Target. Even though the building has been altered many times over the years, the addition of loading bays for supply trucks was a tough sell to some preservationists. But the building’s owner, the Bill Naito Co., and architecture firm Fletcher Farr Ayotte Inc. in May requested design advice from the Historic Landmarks Commission as they moved forward with the development.

“The city is getting the preservation and maintenance of an important building in the downtown core, and also getting use out of it,” said Carrie Richter, chairwoman of the Historic Landmarks Commission.

The entrance of a national big-box retailer into the historic building required some compromises from both sides, but people involved with the project seem satisfied with the approved plans.

“I’m pleased that a resolution was reached,” said Art DeMuro, who was the chairman of the Historic Landmarks Commission when the request for design advice was submitted, but whose term ended last month. “I know there was a lot of excitement about accommodating that particular user and it’s great that there was a resolution not only to accommodate them, but to actually improve the historic integrity of this very significant building.”

The Galleria will feature a new entry at the corner of Southwest Morrison Street and 10th Avenue, with a two-story lobby and coffee shop beyond. The main entrance to the Galleria will remain on 10th Avenue, but Target will have its own sub-entry leading to the ground-floor lobby. (Rendering by Fletcher Farr Ayotte)

DeMuro, who reviewed all alterations made to the building over the years in response to the request for design advice, suggested historic refurbishments that would make the next remodel a “net gain” for the building. Adherence to the commission’s design advice was critical, according to project architect Phil Chubb.

“We took the feedback to heart,” he said, “and the Naito Company was willing to do the things that would help clean up some of the conditions at the Galleria that the landmarks commission was interested in doing.”

One of the most significant changes to the historic facade will be the addition of loading dock doors so that Target trucks can enter and exit the building from Southwest Alder Street. But the design team came up with an innovative solution.

“Those doors will be one-of-a-kind – totally custom,” Chubb said. “We’re spending quite a bit of money to make the loading dock doors as invisible as we possibly can – and that was really important to the landmarks commission and to us, but it’s not an easy thing to do.”

A state-of-the-art seismic upgrade also is planned.

“Never mind the exterior improvements to the look of the building; the bones being reinforced are critical – that’s a huge step to the building’s historic integrity,” said Tim Heron, city planner for the Bureau of Development Services. “It won’t fall down if we get a shake, which we all know we’ll get sooner or later.”

The Nines Hotel and Portland State University’s Lincoln Hall are the only two buildings in Portland to feature the braced-frame technology planned for the Galleria. The so-called viscous dampers were adopted from a device used on military cannons to absorb recoil shock. Unlike a more conventional bracing system, the dampers don’t need to be stacked throughout the building or installed along its perimeter.

“The Galleria is full of existing tenants, each with peculiar needs, and this allows the flexibility to place lateral frames at positions that work for everyone instead of being this invasive thing,” Chubb said.

The design also includes a custom replica of the historic entry canopy on 10th Avenue.

Costs related to the marquee, seismic upgrade and custom loading dock made some of the other suggested improvements untenable. Some minor changes made in the 1970s, when the building was turned into the Galleria Mall, will remain as is, according to Chubb.

Target will lease approximately 100,000 square feet of the Galleria Building, which presently houses Brooks Brothers and other tenants. The retail space will be split between 40,000 square feet on each of the second and third floors; a ground-floor lobby and the loading dock facility will account for the remaining 20,000 square feet.

The main entrance to the Galleria will remain on 10th Avenue, but Target will have its own entry off of Morrison Street, near 10th Avenue, leading to its ground-floor lobby.

“It’s really just a nice return of that building to a full retail sort of facility, and it just happens to be a building that takes up a whole city block and can provide that kind of floor space for downtown retail use,” Chubb said. “It’s a nice marriage of modern retailing and a downtown site like that.”